


Teamwork

by zenyeeta



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universes, Everyone is Spider-Man?, Multiverse, Spider-People Team Up, squad goals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-03 00:06:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16797460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenyeeta/pseuds/zenyeeta
Summary: Peter heads out to grab a sandwich and ends up finding a hell of a lot more than that.IN PROGRESS





	1. PETER

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first published fanfiction!  
> I am both the writer and beta, so if you see anything I should edit shoot me a PM so I can fix it.  
> I wanted to wait until I was finished before posting at all, but when I heard about _Into the Spiderverse_ (TWO WEEKS PEOPLE), I realized I needed to post it before it came out in case people thought I was trying to copy the film.  
> Please enjoy!

Despite its reputation as the city that never sleeps, New York, and especially Queens, rarely changed much at all. Which was why Peter, usually unfazed by his spidey-sense barely tingling, felt unusually perturbed when he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. Slowing his usual gait to a slow stroll, Peter placed his hands into his pockets, clipping on his web bracelets. He kept walking, feeling comfortable enough to continue his way down to the sandwich shop on the corner. His neck hairs still tingling, Peter pulled out his wallet for a five-dollar bill as he entered the hoagie shop.

“Hey Mr. Delmar, how’s Murph doin-” Peter stopped as he looked up, staring at the bored high school girl behind the counter.

The girl looked over at Peter, popping her bubblegum and returning to her video game. Peter looked back at her and frowned. Mr. Delmar never had anybody else working behind the counter except for his brother, who was usually in the deli. Korean pop music played from the speakers.

Wary, Peter unfolded the crumpled bill and went up to the counter. “Hey, uh, can I get a number five? With the bread squished real flat?”

The girl looked up at him, popped her bubblegum once more and then stood up from her chair to make the sandwich. Peter held his breath, and let it out slowly, looking around the sandwich shop.

“Soooo,” he began, his arm hair also starting to stand on edge, his fingers drumming on the countertop, “Are you Mr. Delmar’s daughter?”

The girl behind the counter ignored him, her headphones in as she finished up his sandwich, and returned to the counter with it in a little baggie.

“Seven fifty,” she said, sitting down on her chair, looking at Peter impatiently.

“Seven fifty? But yesterday it was five-”

The girl jerked her thumb up at the menu. “It’s been seven-fifty ever since I’ve worked here and that’s been a while. Pay up.”

Confused, Peter handed over the five and rooted around in his pockets for the remainder. He came up empty, save a few pieces of lint and a straw wrapper.

“Uhhhh… can I pay the rest tomorrow? Mr. Delmar knows me, it’s Peter.”

“Who? Look, dude. My family has owned this shop for generations. Nobody here is named Delmar.” She pointed at the front window. “Our last name is Song.”

Peter turned, and indeed, the girl was right. Mr. Delmar’s had somehow turned into Song Sandwiches & Grocery. Before Peter was able to begin processing his confusion, the girl piped up again.

“You can pay with your card, barely anyone takes cash anymore. Especially those old bills. Where’d you get it, your great-grandpa?” She narrowed her eyes at the five on the counter.

Frowning, Peter took back the five and put it in his front pocket. “I don’t have a card on me, sorry. I guess I got confused about what shop I was at.” He gave the store another glance and left.

Over the sound of the door closing and the jingle of the bell—had that bell even been there before? —Peter heard the girl yell at him “Well what the hell am I gonna do with this sandwich, buddy?”

Peter pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped open the screen to look at it.

NO SERVICE

Peter frowned more deeply, tapping the phone on the palm of his other hand. He had just bought this burner phone for his super-antics; there was no way he was already out of minutes.

Peter’s spidey-sense, which had previously just been a small annoyance skyrocketed, the hair on his head standing almost straight up. He reached into his back pocket for his mask, running around the next corner to hide and change. Quickly pressing his chest, his nanite suit sprung from under his clothing to cover his body in his trade-mark red and blue. Flicking his wrist up, Peter swung up to the roof of the building he had changed behind, scanning the streets for the danger.

Nothing stood out at first, until out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of a boot turning the corner near Mr. Delmar’s shop-  
_No, not Mr. Delmar’s. The Song’s. What is going on?_

He jumped over to the roof of the deli, keen on finding who—or what had alerted him so forcefully. Peter hear a clatter, just on the other side of the building, and slowed his gait to sneak over. Crouching quietly onto his stomach, he looked over the edge of the building to see what had made the noise—

Nothing. The alley was empty, save an empty can of soda. Peter furrowed his brow, confused. His spidey-sense was still ringing in the back of his mind, and he opened his mouth to ask his suit AI for thermal readings when Peter felt a cold knife touch his neck.

Peter raised his hands immediately in a surrender. What else could he do? He was laying prone on his stomach with his chest leaning over a building with no idea who was at the other end of the knife.

“You’re new,” a voice rumbled. It was deep, almost fake. “I haven’t seen ones like you before. Have you evolved again?”

Peter slowly turned his neck to catch a peek of who the voice belonged to, but instead he caught a heavy boot to his mid-back, making him teeter dangerously on the edge of the building.

“Sorry, sorry! I won’t move.”

“Let’s hope you don’t, or I’ll have to do a lot worse.”

“A lot worse than what?” Before Peter had finished exhaling, the person—creature? —behind him flipped a cap off of something and pressed a thin tube to the back of his neck. “Hey, hey, hey, please don’t—"

The pen depressed into his skin, through his suit. Belatedly, his AI, Karen, piped up:  
**Peter, your suit is being invaded by a poison, most likely used to disable enemies temporarily.**

Peter felt the poison, oddly enough, in his teeth, almost like he had eaten a whole lot of something way too sour, and his vision blurred. “No shiiii- ugh” Peter closed his eyes and relaxed.

The hand holding the knife adjusted itself and grabbed Peter’s throat, slowly pulling him back onto the roof.  
Peter was then hoisted up onto a shoulder and carried away.

**/ _ \  
** \\_\\(_)/_/  
_//"\\\\_  
/ \ 

Peter awoke slowly, almost as if he had fallen asleep on purpose. Except, he remembered, he hadn’t.  
That woke him up, his brain immediately firing on all cylinders. His eyes shot open, just to close them again against the bright light in his face.

**Peter, you’re awake. Good. I can change the brightness that enters your suit, if you’d like.**

“Please,” Peter croaked, his throat sore and dry, as if he had drunk too much whisky the night before. His head thudded painfully, adding to his faux hangover.

He felt the intensity of the lights go down, and Peter opened his eyes again.  
He was sitting in a chair, his arms and legs bound, his forehead pulled back by another restraint. The room was simple and square, with newspapers covering the windows and black-out curtains pushed to the sides. A small closet, empty except for a folding chair to his right, and there was no door that he could see. A quick pull on his bindings made it clear that his captor was used to capturing superheroes, or at least very strong captives.

“Karen, can you find out where we are?” Peter took a deep breath, coughing lightly.

  
**Sure, Peter.**

There was silence for a few seconds longer than normal, and then Karen responded.

  
**Peter… I am unable to triangulate our location. I cannot connect to any of Mr. Stark’s satellites. There was a pause. Or any other satellites, for that matter. I’m afraid we are on our own.**

 _What the hell?_ Peter thought. _Who has enough money and technology to resist Mr. Stark’s tech? Karen’s right. I’m in deep sh-_

A soft metal click behind Peter stopped his thoughts. He felt a soft whoosh of air decompressing and heard soft footsteps enter the room. The click, which he assumed had been the door opening, went off again. He was locked in with someone. Was it the thing that had apprehended him earlier?

If he hadn’t been listening, Peter doubted that he would have heard the creature that was now in front of him move.

“Oh my god-“ Peter recoiled, his heartrate skyrocketing.

**Peter, your heartrate has exponentially increased, are you okay?**

  
Peter didn’t answer, and instead closed his eyes and tried turning his head away. _That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen. I’m going to die. I’m going to die._

“What is your mission?” The voice from earlier spoke, deep, gravelly and slow.

Peter forced his eyes open to look at what was in front of him. He swallowed visibly.

  
The creature had dark yellow eyes that felt like screws driving into his thoughts. Its mouth was snarled, showing off large canines. It wore a dark blue suit of leather armor, with knives strapped to its thighs and a large staff on its back. The creature was tall, and heavy, but it moved near-silently and comfortably, as if it wasn’t mere centimeters away from touching the ceiling with its lowered ears.

“M- my mission?” Peter cleared his throat.

“What is your mission?” The creature repeated.

“I uh- I don’t have a mission, I was just going by to grab a sandwich and I guess I forgot the address or something? Look, I don’t know who you are but when Iron Man finds out I’m missing-“

“Iron Man? What is Iron Man?”

“Like… the superhero? Tony Stark? Ring a bell?”

The creature stood still, its face emotionless like a mask. “You are not from here. How did you get here?”

“I don’t know! I was looking at an empty soda can, and _you_ injected me with something and I just woke up.”

The creature growled. “What is your mission?” a hand moved to the creature’s side, lightly grasping the handle of one of the knives hanging there.

**Peter, I would suggest trying to escape. It does not seem like they know your suit is adjusted to the light, and you can easily break through the window.**

Peter agreed. Straining, he lifted his arms up, ripping the metal clasps out of the chair.

“Look, you’ve been really great, but I have got to go.” At lightning speed, Peter ripped the head stabilizer off, kicked away the leg restraints and sent a web through the creature’s legs to the windowsill.

The creature roared, shaking the room and Peter’s brain. Peter barely blinked, and the creature had unsheathed a long, curved knife and pulled the staff off its back.

Peter tugged the web, and propelled himself towards the window, gritting his teeth hoping that he wasn’t too late in his timing.

He was.

The creature grabbed the back of his suit and tossed him across the room, where he hit the metal door. He felt the nanites of his suit shift to his back, rapidly dispensing pain medication and healing supplements. That throw had hurt. A lot. The nanites knew that, and they continued to move to his back. He felt them slowly disappear from his face.

“No-! Karen, reverse the auto heal-!” Peter brought a hand up to cover his face, but it was too late. The creature knew who he was.

The creature stood with its knees bent in a stance ready to pounce and faltered, drawing back to stand once again. “You… you are human.”

Peter groaned. “What the hell else would I be?”

The creature sheathed the knife and propped its staff on the wall. It walked hesitantly towards Peter, touching a bracer that he hadn’t noticed that it wore before.

“What is your name?” It said softly, looking Peter in the eyes.

“Are you serious? You already know what I look like I’m not telling you my name.” Peter scoffed.

The creature undid the bracers on its forearms and began to change.

Almost immediately, like a shield powering down, the creature disappeared, its face melting into nothing, shoulders and torso shrinking into its core, where a much smaller, humanoid figure stood.

This figure wore a similar tunic, and a mask with the likeness of the creature that had just disappeared. Peter was bigger than this humanoid, by at least a foot and a good eighty pounds. A small hand reached up to the mask and with a click, disengaged it from its place.  
The figure closed the space between them, now a larger distance.

It knelt to match Peter’s lowered height and removed its mask.


	2. PETER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for the kudos, it means so much to me!  
> If you have time after reading, I would be SO grateful for a comment, just letting me know what you think.  
> I'm the kind of person who isn't into relationships with original characters, so don't worry! It's definitely not happening. I've planned it out to not have romance, but as I continue it could change, and the rating will eventually go up due to violence and vocabulary. 
> 
> Hope you guys like this chapter, and the wait won't be long to meet the next character!
> 
> _ONE WEEK UNTIL SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE_

Sharp green eyes bored into his.

Peter sagged into the floor and let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. _A human. She’s a human._

“Who are you?” She asked again, this time in a distinctly more human voice. It was softer, with less of a growl, and had an accent Peter couldn’t place.

Peter didn’t know what to answer. The girl looked at him again, inquiringly, then slipped a glove off her hand and offered it to him.

“I am… Jaguar,” she said hesitantly.

Despite his better judgment, Peter moved his hand to his chest and pressed at the spider insignia. His suit melted back into nothing. He took her hand.

“Jaguar? That’s your made-up name, right?”

Jaguar smiled. “Yes. My… ‘made up’ name.”

Peter breathed out and nodded. “I’m Spider-Man.”

“Spider-Man,” she said, trying the name out on her mouth. “You have a good suit, Spider-Man.”

“Er, so do you. Thanks,” Peter returned the compliment, and a tense silence resumed.

Jaguar looked down at their touching hands, and slowly retracted her hand. “I apologize for taking you. I believed you to be…” Her eyes flashed “dangerous.”

Peter chuckled despite himself. “Most people think that, I can’t blame you too much, can I?”

Jaguar was silent for a moment more, then stood. “I still have questions that you must answer. First you must eat. Your body will go into shock soon.”

“No, I’m not too hungry, I can go a while.” Peter protested. “Plus, it’s not the first time I’ve been poisoned.”

Jaguar insisted. “You must eat. Come. I have many things.” She stood and pressed her palm to the door, and it slid open.

**Jaguar is correct, Peter. Despite your healing abilities, it seems that the poison is still in your system. You will experience a crash like before if you do not eat.**

Peter pursed his lips and turned to look through the door. It looked almost like a normal apartment, though much sleeker and more ergonomic than any apartment he had seen.

“Okay,” he said reservedly, still on edge about being poisoned and kidnapped. His spidey-senses were still tingling, though not as much as they had been before. It was safe.

Peter stood up, rubbing his back where he had been thrown into the door and followed Jaguar into the apartment.

The door slid behind him and melted into the wall, disguised perfectly in the hallway. If Peter hadn’t known it was there, he would have been unable to find it. He had a feeling that Karen wouldn’t have been any help finding the door, either.

Ahead, Jaguar had removed the blue armor, placing it in a briefcase on one of the bar stools settled by the breakfast bar. She wore a plain white shirt and dark grey pants underneath.

Peter took his time to look around the apartment. It was small, probably smaller than his own apartment, but somehow it seemed to have enough room for a computer set-up, a bed, and two dressers. A bearded dragon stared at him lazily through the glass of an enclosure on the headboard of the bed.

Turning, Peter looked to the kitchen. It was small, but like the rest of the space was sleek and felt bigger than it really was.

Jaguar stood at a microwave-like fixture and placed her hand on a pad on the wall. The microwave lit up yellow, blinking a couple times before turning green and then turning off. She slid the cover to the side and retrieved a plate loaded with hot food.

“Here,” she said, placing it next to Peter on the counter and offered him chopsticks.

Peter looked down. It was a meal of mashed potatoes, a sort of meatloaf, and indiscernible vegetables.

“Uh, thanks,” Peter paused. “Do you have a fork?”

Jaguar had returned to the box and was pulling a second plate also with food out of the hole in the wall. “Fork?”

“Yeah, like the utensil with spikes?”

Jaguar turned and looked at him, frowning. “I do not recognize this… fork.”

Peter coughed “What?”

“I do not have a fork. You may eat with your hands,” she said, sitting across from him and tucking into her identical plate of food with her hands.

Peter ate with the chopsticks.

The food was alright, but left an odd, manufactured taste in his mouth.

Jaguar took his plate from him when they finished, and she returned the plates to the box.

“So… Spider-Man. You are not from here.”

“I’m going to agree with you on that, even though I’ve lived in Queens my whole life,” Peter replied.

Jaguar sighed and sat down again, pulling out a map of New York and laying it flat on the counter top. “This is New York. We both are from Queens,” she tapped an outlined area on the map. “But you have traveled a long way. You are what we call _proculmundus_. From another universe.”

“Another what?? I mean, I know there’s like, The Nine Realms or whatever, but another universe? I don’t understand, how could I have traveled—"

Jaguar put her hand up to interrupt him. “It is clear that our universes diverged from each other many centuries ago, yet somehow have still come to meet here today. This is how the _zabulusmundus_ have accessed us, through a series of portals where the lines that connect each universe grows thin,” she tapped on yellow dots spread throughout the borough and the rest of New York. “Not every traveler is malicious, but many are. Often, those who are brought through on accident are not equipped to deal with the differences and perish. But you… you have survived. I am curious how.” She looked into Peter’s eyes, piercing green meeting soft brown ones.

Peter believed her, he realized. “I don’t know how I came here. I was just walking on the street, and my,” he paused “I have like, this kind of special sense that tells me when something’s wrong. Anyway, I felt like something was wrong, and when I entered the sandwich shop everything was different. Then you know the rest.”

Jaguar nodded. “I feel as if I am only going to be the bearer of bad news from now on, Spider-Man. I visited the sandwich shop, and the Tear to your universe has gone. If I had been able to do some work…” She frowned, tapping her fingers anxiously on the counter top. “If I had done work, I could have figured out where you came from, so when—if another Tear opened, you could return. I am afraid you will have to stay here until we can fix things.”

Peter felt as if he was in shock, because the news did not surprise him. It just made sense. “Okay,” he said, looking down at his lap, trying to think of what to say next.

“I am sorry.”

Peter looked back up at her face, which was trained on his, a comforting smile pulling at her mouth.

“I feel responsible for this outcome. I would like to offer my space while I help you return home.”

Peter smiled. “Thanks. But I’ll only take you up on that offer if you tell me everything about these uh- bad guys. It’s clear that not only are they trying to take your universe, but others’ universes as well. We have to save them all.”

Jaguar’s smile turned into a grin, her canine teeth just marginally sharper than normal. “I see a hero in you, Spider-Man. And despite my mistakes, I would also like to be a hero. We have an agreement.”

/ _ \

\\_\\(_)/_/

_//"\\\\_

/ \

Peter was relieved that computers operated the same way as in his universe. He wasn’t sure if he had been able to handle it if this universe had been so different. Granted, the technology here was much simpler, and clearly more advanced, even more so than the computers Mr. Stark often used.

He looked through the data that Jaguar had compiled over the past five years about Tears and the _zabulusmundus_ , trying to find a pattern. He knew that he wasn’t doing anything genuinely helpful, as he was more than sure that she had already gone through all the patterns herself. This was more so for himself, Peter knew.

Jaguar stood in the middle of the room, breathing deeply and moving slowly around in a martial art that Peter was unfamiliar with.

Peter returned his attention to the computer screen and selected the icon that Jaguar had told him was the internet. A window popped open, ready for him to search anything. Peter wiggled his fingers, debating on whether he should be typing what he really wanted to type.

_Peter Parker_

He finished typing, and it went searching. Almost instantly (though for Peter it felt like an eternity), the search completed. There were a couple hundred hits, though many of them news articles. Peter frowned and clicked on the top result.

**FAMILY OF THREE, KILLED IN FLUKE CAR ACCIDENT**

Nzinga Hart

Early in the morning on December 23, 2005, the Parker family car responded negatively

to a routine update to its hard drive, causing the car to malfunction and crash into a building.

Richard Parker, 25, and three-year-old Peter Parker died upon impact. Mary Parker, 24,

succumbed to internal bleeding and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

A statement from Company Carr says to refrain from using your vehicles until further notice

as they work on the code to find the bug. In the meantime, they will be “reimbursing all Carr

users for travel expenses during this time”, says Carr spokesman, Akande Ogundimu.

The Parker family is survived by Richard Parker’s brother, Benjamin Parker, and his wife, May Parker.

There will be a public service and funeral on January 2, 2006 at Zhou Cemetery.

Peter felt himself crying. Eyes threatening to spill, he looked around for tissues. A brown hand offered him a handkerchief.

Peter took the handkerchief from Jaguar and pressed it up to his face. He felt her close to him, closing the article with a soft click, and then type something else in. He only noticed her leave when he felt the warmth coming from her body disappear.

When he finally moved the kerchief from his face, Peter saw another page open.

It was the search engine results for _Tessa Grey_.

There were no results.

Peter blinked, confused and spun around in the chair to look at Jaguar.

She was leaning against the counter, facing him.

“My name is Tessa Grey. I do not know anything about myself because I do not exist. One day, I woke in a forest with my armor on, and an ID with my name. I came to the address listed on my card, and I had a key in my pocket. I do not know anything after six years ago.”

Peter exhaled. “That’s…” he floundered for words.

Tessa smiled, “I have felt the same pain you are feeling now. I share my pain so that one day, you can share my joy. Peter.”

She pronounced his name like Petir.

Peter smiled back. “Thank you, Tessa.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but the computer began to flash a warning that took up the whole screen.

Peter’s spidey-sense skyrocketed.

Her face hardened, and she grabbed for her armor. “Another portal has opened. There are two signatures coming through. I must stop them.”

“I’m coming with you,” Peter stood up from the chair.

Tessa was buckling on her right bracer, and she looked at him. “You do not know enough of these monsters. It would be unsafe.”

“Too bad! We’re in this shit together. I’m not going to just let you take on two bad guys—”

“ _zabulusmundus —”_ Tessa interjected.

“Whatever, I’m not letting you take two of them on by yourself. Especially if you have to trick yourself out into that scary-ass Jaguar.”

Tessa scowled. “If you are wounded I will be unable to help you.”

Peter shrugged. “I should be fine. It’s the perks of being bitten by a radioactive spider.”

“A _wha—_ ”

“Let’s go! We don’t have enough time and we can talk about it later.”

“Fine. Suit up. You are not allowed to die, Spider-Man.”

Peter pressed his chest and his suit sprung forward.

“I wish to have a suit like this one. It is much easier to put on,” Tessa grunted. “Come, we will use the Flume.”

“The Flume?” Peter asked, but Tessa had already grabbed him and pulled him into a corner he hadn’t realized was clear before. A small circle of metal stood on the floor.

She pushed him onto the circle, and stood against him, only chest height. Tessa placed her hand on a small screen, like the one by the food replicator.

Peter saw her disappear, and then he did, too.

It was as if he had blinked during a scene change when watching a movie. He was now on the rooftop of a building overlooking a park. Tessa was standing next to him, taller and bigger than before. Her suit was on.

“Down there,” she said, pointing to the lake where a large, shiny black creature was exiting the water. “Do you see the Tear? It shimmers in the air.”

The Tear was huge, a forty-foot high rainbow that only faintly caught the light.

“What’s that?” He asked, pointing closer to the tree line.

A smaller body, humanoid in form and running away from the creature, was covered in black.

Jaguar turned to look at him. This time, he realized, her features were not as frightening as before. “I do not know. I believed you to be a new concoction of the enemy. I was wrong, but this time it may be real.” She paused and looked down at the lake. “But I have been known to be incorrect twice. You follow the small one. I will take the large one.”

“Got it. Good luck, Tessa.”

Jaguar looked back at him. “You as well, Peter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vocab:
> 
> proculmundus: Latin, literally _procul-_ meaning "far off" and _-mundus_ , meaning world or universe.  
> zabulusmundus: Latin, literally _zabulus-_ meaning "evil one" and _-mundus_ , meaning world or universe.


End file.
